Friday, 1 June 2012

Who Needs Sleep

Since J was 6 months old (maybe earlier anything before six
months is kind of a blur) she has woken between 5am
and 5.45 am. We have tried everything under the sun, or
moon as it may be, to change this. There have been black out blinds, controlled crying
(yup swore I would never do it but sleep depravation does funny things to you),
moving bed times later, changing nap times, giving up night feeds all together,
you name it we tried it the kid wakes up before 6 am.

With the new found skill of basic communication her early
morning wake up calls now come with the question “Mama Go Bye Bye?”. Yes that
was my daughter first sentence and one she repeats from the time she wake until
driven to insanity you are out the door at some ungodly hour okay 7.30 but
pretty close to ungodly. It really is
easier than hearing her say “Mama Go Bye Bye?” on a continual loop.

These early morning outings has lead to many interesting
observations.

1. People look at you strange if you are out pushing a
pushchair with a child in it before 7am.

2. If you get to the park before 8am your child will be the only one there meaning you can
sit on the sideline and not have to make sure they are interacting with the
other children in a socially acceptable way. J has a new found love of
screaming if anyone gets on a peace of equipment she has used at the park in
the last 12 months so while she may be happily going down the slide if someone
she does not like the look of tries to use a swing it can get ugly.

3. It is much quieter at 8 in the morning than late
afternoon and as long as J is in a good mood in the push chair I can loose
myself in thought while we walk.

4. There are a lot fewer people in the grocery store at this
hour making it quicker and easier to do a shop.

5. J seems to generally be in a good mood at this hour where
if I take her out in the afternoon some times she has the umph.

6. You get incredible views of the sea front.

I by no means enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn but have
made peace with the fact that it is where we are right now. It won’t last forever and even if it does in
a few years she can pour her own cereal and milk so it won’t matter as much any
ways.

2 comments:

oh I feel your pain. Our kids are up at 4:30/5:00 every morning. It works out because I go to the gym every morning at 5:30, but it hasn't always been so harmonious. Maybe you remember when Roscoe went to sleep for the night at 3:30pm and woke up at 3:30am for the day? That was really hard. Some kiddos are just early risers. :)